By Xiang Bin

Football supporters in Shanghai are leaving their cars at home and traveling to watch Olympic Soccer matches by public transport. As a result, Olympic traffic congestion is much less severe than authorities had feared.

A china.org.cn reporter who checked the Shanghai Stadium car park before the kick-off of the Argentina vs. Australia game on August 10, was surprised to find only 6 cars parked there.

"It's really strange; people are flooding into the stadium. There should be hundreds of private cars here by now," said a car park attendant.

There are three Olympic parking lots near the Shanghai Stadium, offering 4000 parking spaces. But less than one third of the spaces were occupied for the match, which indicates that people have switched to buses and the subway to travel to games.

"I came here by subway instead of driving my car. The subway is convenient and I don't have to worry about traffic jams," said one man.

"The public's understanding and cooperation has eased the pressure on us tremendously," commented an officer from Shanghai's traffic police.

(China.org.cn August 12, 2008)